Our oceans are a thing of beauty, and a thing of mystery. For as long a humans have seen the sea we have ventured into it, exploring the lands that it connects, as well as the extracting or food from it. Fish has become a integral part of peoples diets. Released in 2009, the film The end of the Line: Where Have all the Fish Gone by Rupert Murray explores what is going on in our oceans, and explains the loss of biodiversity. Fishing is a large corporate endeavor, around the world. The worlds fishing fleet grows daily, making catches from or past insignificant compared to today’s modern factory ships. The film points out of the all animals on earth it is humans that or the top predator. Our capacity to kill is only matched by our ingenuity in creating new ways to kill. We are very efficient at harvesting natural resources at rates that for exceed the natural regeneration of that particular resource.
One example from the film is that of the Newfoundland cod crash in the early 1990’s. Atlantic cod was a highly priced fish for its taste and size, but extensive over fishing lead to a collapse of the fishing stock. Lack of government regulation and enforcement along with poor fishing practices helped to diminish the stocks. This was not the only time that fishing grounds had been over fished. In the 1970’s the Icelandic cod fishing grounds where being heavily fished by many nations, most notably the British. When later that year would start the beginning of three wars over cod (Paul & Spirit, 2008). I find it interesting that two nations fought over the rights to fish a certain area of the ocean.
The documentary goes on to discuss the politics behind setting quota limits for fishing. Quota’s are set with science in mind, but are not always the driving force for how they should be set. Politicians set the quota limits at a level well above scientist recommendations for both allowing for growth of the stock, and allowing a breeding stock. Politicians do not always believe science and as a result we have environmental damaging legislation. This is not always the case; science is often conflicting as is the case with global warming, where corporate science says one thing while non-corporate science says another.
This documentary was thought provoking at the very least. I never thought about how much we rely on our oceans for a food source and many other things that make our existence possible. I felt like it spent a lot of time dealing with the problem, and showing how much of a problem this all is, and a very short amount of time on how to solve it. Although, the brief introduction to marine reserves was an idea I had not been aware of up to this point. Looking around for more about marine reserves, I found that several countries have established marine reserves, but a very limited number of them or “no-take” zones. But these “no-take” zones have rejuvenated in a small amount of time, much faster than had been anticipated (Hence, 2008).
Our oceans are a thing of beauty, and a thing of mystery. For as long a humans have seen the sea we have ventured into it, exploring the lands that it connects, as well as the extracting or food from it. Fish has become a integral part of peoples diets. Released in 2009, the film The end of the Line: Where Have all the Fish Gone by Rupert Murray explores what is going on in our oceans, and explains the loss of biodiversity. Fishing is a large corporate endeavor, around the world. The worlds fishing fleet grows daily, making catches from or past insignificant compared to today’s modern factory ships. The film points out of the all animals on earth it is humans that or the top predator. Our capacity to kill is only matched by our ingenuity in creating new ways to kill. We are very efficient at harvesting natural resources at rates that for exceed the natural regeneration of that particular resource.
One example from the film is that of the Newfoundland cod crash in the early 1990’s. Atlantic cod was a highly priced fish for its taste and size, but extensive over fishing lead to a collapse of the fishing stock. Lack of government regulation and enforcement along with poor fishing practices helped to diminish the stocks. This was not the only time that fishing grounds had been over fished. In the 1970’s the Icelandic cod fishing grounds where being heavily fished by many nations, most notably the British. When later that year would start the beginning of three wars over cod (Paul & Spirit, 2008). I find it interesting that two nations fought over the rights to fish a certain area of the ocean.
The documentary goes on to discuss the politics behind setting quota limits for fishing. Quota’s are set with science in mind, but are not always the driving force for how they should be set. Politicians set the quota limits at a level well above scientist recommendations for both allowing for growth of the stock, and allowing a breeding stock. Politicians do not always believe science and as a result we have environmental damaging legislation. This is not always the case; science is often conflicting as is the case with global warming, where corporate science says one thing while non-corporate science says another.
This documentary was thought provoking at the very least. I never thought about how much we rely on our oceans for a food source and many other things that make our existence possible. I felt like it spent a lot of time dealing with the problem, and showing how much of a problem this all is, and a very short amount of time on how to solve it. Although, the brief introduction to marine reserves was an idea I had not been aware of up to this point. Looking around for more about marine reserves, I found that several countries have established marine reserves, but a very limited number of them or “no-take” zones. But these “no-take” zones have rejuvenated in a small amount of time, much faster than had been anticipated (Hence, 2008).
Bibliography
Hence, J. (2008, July 16). Marine no-take zones are succeeding beyond expectations. Retrieved October 31, 2010, from Monga Bay: http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0716-hance_fishing.htmlMurray, R. (Director). (2009). The End of the Line: Where have all the Fish Gone [Motion Picture].
http://endoftheline.com/
Paul, J., & Spirit, M. (2008). The Cod Wars. Retrieved October 31, 2010, from Roits, Rebellions, Gun Boats and Peace Keepers: http://www.britains-smallwars.com/RRGP/CodWar.htm